by M. L. Briers
Damn, she was just supposed to dump the food and high tail it out of there, did she really have to play nursemaid to him as well?
Cynthia was about to tell him to do it himself when something kicked in within her. A protectiveness that had her wanting to help him and she hoped to god it had nothing to do with him being her mate.
“I guess I can help you.” She muttered, wanting to dump the tray and run but at the same time wanting to care for him.
Oh no, was she feeling the pull of her mate that Isabel had been talking about?
“What are you doing?”
Elijah’s deep tone right by Isabel’s ear nearly had her jumping in the air like a startled cat. She whirled around to berate him, but the amusement in his eyes made him look too sexy and full of mischief.
“Watching.” Isabel motioned with her index finger over her shoulder to Joshua’s bedroom door.
“The door isn’t going anywhere, Isa.” He grinned as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. The arousal she felt pressed against her stomach made her body come alive in response to him.
“Cynthia is in there.” She hissed and he took a sudden interest. His eyes flicked to the door. “Can you hear them?”
“Well aren’t you just little Miss Nosey?” He teased, with one ear on the conversation behind the closed door.
“I’m just an interested party…” She stuck her nose in the air and feigned a superior attitude and he grinned down at her.
“Well they appear to be going at it like bunnies…” He told her and her jaw dropped open as her eyes widened, and then he grinned wickedly and chuckled devilishly.
“Oh no, wait… that’s us in about five seconds.” He added and she slapped out at him.
“You’re mean.” Isabel went to pull away from him but he kept her hips locked against his.
“I can be…” He teased, giving her a dark look and she scoffed.
“Don’t I know it.” She tried to push against his chest with the palms of her hands, but he wasn’t about to let her go.
“Would you like to know how mean I can really be little Fae?” His eyes darkened with thoughts of all the things he could do to her, keeping her on the very edge of an orgasm without release for a very long time. She narrowed her gaze up at him, suspicion rising within her.
“You’re thinking evil thoughts…” She accused and he gave a slow devilish laugh.
“Very evil…” He agreed, grinding his arousal against her stomach.
‘Alpha, we have a problem.’
Elijah tensed immediately around her as he held up a finger towards her.
‘What is it?’ His inner wolf was already growling within him. Just the word problem from one of his pack out patrolling the land was enough to put both him and his wolf on edge, and with good reason.
‘I can scent the vampire. He’s on our land.’
‘I’ll be right there.’
He released her immediately and saw her flinch her understanding. She might not have been aware of what had passed in the conversation between the Alpha and his pack, but she had gauged just how bad it was by his body’s reaction to the news.
“Be careful, Elijah.” He nodded his head once before she watched him spin away from her and disappear down the stairs.
“Stay inside.” He called to her, but she wasn’t listening. She was more intent on replaying her comment to him. It had been a stupid thing to say. He was the Alpha. He would be the first to get in the fight to defend his pack. But she couldn’t help herself, the thought of him being hurt like Joshua, or worse had her mind spinning and her insides churning.
This mating thing was rough.
No sooner had she heard the front door slam shut then she heard the commotion from behind Joshua’s bedroom door and moved to investigate. If Cynthia started shrieking, she was going in, no matter what the consequences.
“No, Joshua, don’t…” The anxiety in her friend’s voice was enough to have her throwing the bedroom door open and stepping inside.
“What the…?” She started to demand, and then tipped her head to one side as she regarded Cynthia virtually on top of Joshua trying to pin him down without damaging him.
“He’s trying to get out of bed. Said he needs to join the hunt. Tell him he’s being an arse.” Cynthia ground out as she used all of her strength to keep him from dragging his damaged body to the edge of the bed.
“Joshua, you’re being an arse. And if she can keep you in place, you’re not healed enough to join the hunt.” Isabel crossed her arms over her chest and saw the anger flicker in his eyes.
“I just don’t want to hurt her…” Joshua ground out and Isabel grinned widely.
“Good choice. Steamrollering over your mate is never a good idea, especially when her best friend is a Fae who took down your illustrious Alpha with just one finger and a little magic earlier…” It was a not so subtle threat and he caught it and stopped moving instantly.
Cynthia blew the hair from her eyes and lessened her hold on him.
“Good choice. Now will you two play nice? And just think, the moon should be positioned outside that window in the next half our, then Joshua can heal properly and you two can finally mate.” She thought that she would just drop that in there to take both of their attention away from what was going on.
Cynthia jumped away from him as if he scalded her with his very touch, which caused Joshua to grin from ear to ear as Isabel backed out of the room and closed the door behind her.
Isabel spent the next two hours and forty minutes pacing back and forth in the downstairs hallway before she found that she really couldn’t be inside anymore. Yanking open the front door she walked out onto the porch and felt the cool breeze of the late summer’s evening and drew a breath deeply into her lungs.
The sound of rustling in the nearby bushes caught her attention and as she turned her head she felt the presence, before her brain comprehended the black streak of something that tore past her.
He was there, standing just behind her as she looked out onto the darkness of the night. The tingle of his presence sent every hair rising to attention over her body and she didn’t need to turn to feel his gaze was upon her.
“What do we have here?” The deeply seductive tones could only belong to a vampire. The quality to draw a person in was in every syllable. But she wasn’t a person, she was a Fae, and she slammed her shields in place faster than light as she started to make a slow turn towards him. She figured she might as well see what she was facing, what could end her.
Isabel felt the coolness of his skin touch hers as he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and leaned in towards her neck and she froze to the spot, waiting to see what came next.
She heard him draw a breath and knew that he was taking in her scent. The small melodic hum on his lips as he realised what she was had her body tensing slightly.
“Fae. I know your scent. You’re the one who spoilt my fun on the hunt last night.” He didn’t sound angry. In fact, he didn’t sound anything. There seemed to be no emotion within his tone at all.
“So you thought you’d come back for another try?”
“It’s what I do…”
“What ping pong doesn’t interest you?” Isabel wanted to bite her tongue, but she just couldn’t, especially not now she had an allegiance to the pack.
She heard the slight chuckle that drifted towards her on the breeze and felt his grip tighten around her wrist a moment before he yanked her around to face him.
Her head snapped backwards and she found herself starring up into the black eyes that swept over her, in what felt like a long and detailed perusal of her body, and she found she didn’t like it.
“I had no interest in you, little one…” When he narrowed his eyes on hers, she felt the word, but, coming on. “But I see the Alpha has marked you as his.”
Yep there it was. Damn, she was an idiot, she could have stayed indoors and out of trouble, but no, that would be too smart for the like
s of her.
“I’m Fae, Vampire. Marks come and go. Just like Vampires and Lycan’s come and go, so what’s your point?” She thought she was holding her nerve pretty well. Her heart might have been skipping a beat or two within her chest, but he couldn’t really read anything into that. No matter who she was, faced with him, it would be doing that anyway.
“So you’re not his woman?” The vampire’s handsome face showed absolutely no emotion, just like his voice as he stared down at her. She did feel him trying to read her thoughts though…
“If you think you can read me Vampire, think again…”
“You’re deflecting the question…” He lifted his free hand and ran one long nail slowly down her cheek, seeing if he could elicit a response. Maybe even trying to throw her off kilter, but it wasn’t going to work. She stood her ground and so did her shields.
“I’m nobody’s woman. I’m Fae. You can’t be very travelled in our circles if you don’t know how independent the Fae are around here.” She oozed calm and rationality. She projected self assuredness. It was a lot more than she felt right now.
“Oh I know your circle very well, little one, and I’m sure they wouldn’t condone you bedding a Lycan.” That little bit of information lodged into her brain and rang some bells. What the hell was the circle doing cosying up with a vampire?
“What they don’t know can’t hurt me.” She gave a little smirk, just enough to peak his interest, just enough to have him raise one eyebrow down at her.
“Are you a spy?” There was a sarcastic glee to his voice and he leaned down and whispered to her. She thought she’d play along.
“Are you?”
“Deflecting…” He berated her and she managed a shrug off her shoulders.
“Not caring.” She shot back as though he bored her now. It might have been the wrong move. He tugged her arm again and she found her body pressed up against his. Her skin crawled with the need to be away from him, but she hoped she managed to keep that from showing.
“Do you know how good Fae blood tastes to a vampire?” He made it sound like a question, but she knew that it really wasn’t. When he ran the razor sharp fingernail down over her throat and she felt the sharp, quick pain like a wasp sting, she waited for feel of her blood against her flesh.
“I’m not a blood bank, move along.”She bit out the words as a warning. She was done playing his game. He could either attack or leave. She didn’t much care which.
“Maybe I should mark you as mine and see how the Alpha likes to share?”The menace in his tone matched the gleam in his eye as he waited for her response.
“Either attack or move on. I don’t do well with…” The sudden snarl from the end of the porch had both of their heads turning in that direction and Isabel’s heart caught in her throat as her eyes fixed on the grey wolf that was slowly stalking towards them.
Isabel didn’t know whose wolf it was and she didn’t have time to consider as he let go of her wrist and shot straight for it.
She saw the flash of the vampire travelling at speed and the sudden push off the ground that the wolf made with its powerful hind legs, as the two seemed to meet in mid air.
The jaws of the wolf snapped once and missed as the Vampire’s claws shredded open the flesh of the wolf down both ribs and tore upwards in a pincher movement that finished at its snout.
The sound of the yelp that tore through the night filled Isabel with dread as the wolf and vampire both hit the ground. The vampire’s knee was wedged against the wolf’s neck, his superior strength holding the wolf down as he reared up, arms raised above him, his claws aimed downwards, ready to strike as the wolf’s hind end and legs thrashed against the wood for leverage.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Isabel pulled all the power she could summon within her, with a low incantation she pointed her index finger at the Vampire and snapped her wrist to the right.
The vampire was ripped away from the wolf as if carried on a freak gust of wind. His arms and legs flailed as he flew backwards through the air and for one long moment his eyes locked on hers, just before his back slammed into the tree trunk.
The sound cracked through the air as wood splintered and bones broke within him. But she knew it would only be a matter of seconds before he was up on his feet, and depending on when he had fed last it could be just minutes before he was fully healed.
Her eyes flicked down to the injured wolf on the floor, as it whimpered back to its feet. Thick trails of blood and exposed flesh lined its ribs and she knew that round two for the wolf and the vampire probably wouldn’t be a good idea.
She moved forwards quickly, sidestepping the wolf that gently growled at her as she passed it by, but she paid it no mind. She positioned herself between the vampire and the wolf as he dragged himself to his feet, as mad as hell and his eyes locked solely onto her.
The sound of something tore his attention away from her and in an instant he was gone. Leaving her to stare blankly at the empty space where he had been.
Wolves came from all directions at once. Their paws skidded to a halt as they lost the scent of the vampire. Heads turned as they scanned the emptiness around them. Snouts up, scenting the air as their eyes devoured the landscape.
There was only one wolf that Isabel was interested in, the injured one that had been behind her and was now at her side.
“Let me help you.” She was rather shocked when the wolf ran its snout down her hand in a sign of affection.
“Isa…?” The deep tone of Elijah’s voice wafted too her from somewhere behind and she turned her head to see him coming towards her, naked and angry as hell.
“The wolf is hurt Elijah…” She couldn’t give a damn if he was going to berate her. That could wait. She needed to see to the wolf that had protected her.
“Mother, let me see…”The concern in Elijah’s voice rolled through her, but the fact that the injured wolf was his mother shocked her to hell.
“Emily, oh god…” Isabel dropped to her knees on the floor beside Emily’s wolf. Her hands running over the fur as she tried to ascertain how deep the wounds were into the flesh.
Emily nudged her head against Isabel’s side, once, then twice. The second time almost throwing her off balance.
“Emily, stand still I need…”
“She’s telling you she’s alright, Isa. That the moon will heal her wounds.” Elijah said the words, but they didn’t make a blind bit of difference to Isabel, she was still running her hands through the fur, detailing the damage, right up until Elijah reached down and stilled her hands.
“Isa, she’s fine.” His tone was patient and there was a small element of amusement there, but Isabel wasn’t amused, she was as mad as hell. She should have put more force behind her attack on the vampire, she should have twisted his head on his neck and put him down for longer, so the wolves could have had at him…
Emily rubbed her snout against Isabel as she took a slow walk past her.
“Wait, where is she going?” Isabel’s turned her head to follow the progression of his mothers wolf down the porch as one of the other wolves came up to join her.
“She’s going to lie in the moonlight and Todd is going to watch over her while she heals.” Elijah pulled Isabel from her knees and she went to follow Emily, but he held her hands in his, stopping her from leaving him.
“I can help her heal faster, Elijah.” Her eyes stayed on Emily as she slunk down onto the hard wood of the decking and Todd took up a position next to her.
“Isabel, look at me.” Elijah had to put his hand against her cheek to take her attention from his ailing mother and bring her eyes up to his.
He noted her heartbeat racing. He saw the way her eyebrows were drawn together in concern. Could see that she was struggling to come to terms with what was happening and he loved for it all the more.
“Elijah, it’s my fault, let me help her.” How could he not understand what she had done, what her actions tonight had caused? Emily could have easily have lo
st her life because of her stupidity and was injured and suffering because of what she had done.
“She’s going to be fine, Isa. I promise you. The best thing for her now is the moonlight. Trust me.” Elijah felt her shields drop away and her emotions hit him like a wave. Shame, anger, concern, fear, remorse and love were rolling from her and it was a heady mixture for him to take on board. But when she dropped her shields, he not only scented her, but he caught the smell of her blood on the air as well.
“You’re hurt. I can scent your blood.” Elijah sense of smell had him pinpointing the wound to her neck. His fingers were already brushing her hair back, when she tried to pull back away from him.
“It’s nothing, a scratch.” His other hand on her wrist held her in place as he growled long and hard at the thin, long wound running down her neck, the anger within him darkened his eyes to ebony.
“Joshua. My mother and now you, that damn vampire is…” His growl rumbled through every word as she reached up and touched his face.
“Toast. He’s toast… You’re not the only one who has a bone to pick with him and next time I won’t be so gentle.” He heard the venom within her voice as her eyes flicked back to his mother at the other end of the porch and it seemed to heighten the rawness of his nerves.
“You will not go anywhere near him again.” Elijah growled down at her, his hand tightened on her wrist and he pulled her attention back towards him with a gentle tug on her.
“We can discuss it…” Isabel saw the set of his jaw, the adamant tone of his voice and the body language that came from his beautiful nakedness as he stood there, towering over her and she tried to defuse the situation.
“There is nothing to discuss.” Elijah informed her and she tipped her head to the side and raised one brow back at him.
“Elijah, I’m a woman and a Fae, there is always something to talk about.” She informed him poignantly and he gave a low growl as he rolled his eyes.
